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FAREWELL ADDRESS. 



DELIVERED SEPTEMBER 17th, 1796. 



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NEW YO.KK: 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

443 & 445 BROADWAY. 

1861. 



WASHINGTON'S 

FAREWELL ADDRESS, 



Friends and Fellow-Citizens : — 

The period for a new election of a citizen, to administer 
the executive government of the United States, being not 
far distant, and the time actually arrived, when your 
thoughts must be employed in designating the person, who 
is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me 
proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expres- 
sion of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the 
resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among 
the number of those, out of whom a choice is to be made. 

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be 
assured, that this resolution has not been taken without a 
strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the re- 
lation, which binds a dutiful citizen to his country ; and that, 
in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my 
situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of 
zeal for your future interest ; no deficiency of grateful re- 
spect for your past kindness ; but am supported by a full 
conviction that the step is compatible with both. 



4 Washington's farewell address. 

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office 
to which your suffrages have twice called me, have been a 
uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and 
to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I con- 
stantly hoped, that it would have been much earlier in my 
power, consistently with motives, which I was not at liberty 
to disregard, to return to that retirement, from which I had 
been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to 
do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the prep- 
aration of an address to declare it to you ; but mature reflec- 
tion on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs 
with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons 
entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. 

I rejoice, that the state of your concerns, external as well 
as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination in- 
compatible with the, sentiment of duty, or propriety; and 
am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my 
services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, 
you will not disapprove my determination to retire. 

The impressions, with which I first undertook the ardu- 
ous trust, were explained on the proper occasion. In the 
discharge of this trust, I will only say, that I have, with 
good intentions, contributed towards the organization and 
administration of the government the best exertions of which 
a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious, in 
the outset, of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience 
in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, 
has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself ; and 
every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me 
more and more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary 



Washington's faeewell addeess. 5 

to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that, if any circum- 
stances have given peculiar value to my services, they were 
temporary, I have the consolation to believe, that, while 
choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, 
patriotism does not forbid it. 

In looking forward to the moment, which is intended to 
terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not 
permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that 
debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for 
the many honors it has conferred upon me ; still more for 
the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me ; 
and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifest- 
ing my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and perse- 
vering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If bene- 
fits have resulted to our country from these services, let it 
always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive 
example in our annals, that under circumstances in which 
the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mis- 
lead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of 
fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfre- 
quently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criti- 
cism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop 
of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they 
were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall 
carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to un- 
ceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest 
tokens of its beneficence ; that your union and brotherly 
affection may be perpetual ; that the free constitution, which 
is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained ; 
that its administration in every department may be stamped 



6 Washington's farewell address. 

with wisdom and virtue ; that, in fine, the happiness of the 
people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be 
made complete, by so careful a preservation and so prudent 
a use of this blessing, as will acquire to them the glory of 
recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adop- 
tion of every nation, which is yet a stranger to it. 

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for 
your welfare, which ' cannot end but with my life, and the 
apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, 
on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn 
contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, 
some sentiments, which are the result of much reflection, of 
no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all- 
important to the permanency of your felicity as a People. 
These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you 
can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a part- 
ing friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias 
his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, 
your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and 
not dissimilar occasion. 

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament 
of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to 
fortify or confirm the attachment. 

The unity of Government, which constitutes you one 
people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so ; for it is a 
main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the 
support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad ; of 
your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty, 
which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee, 
that, from different causes and from different quarters, much 



pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in 
your minds the conviction of this truth ; as this is the point 
in your political fortress against which the batteries of in- 
ternal and external enemies will be most constantly and 
actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it 
is of infinite moment, that you should properly estimate the 
immense value of your national Union to your collective and 
individual happiness ; that you should cherish a cordial, 
habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming 
yourselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium of 
your political safety and prosperity ; watchhag for its pres- 
ervation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever 
may suggest even a suspicion, that it can in any event be 
abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawn- 
ing of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country 
from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link 
together the various parts. 

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and in- 
terest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, 
that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The 
name of American, which belongs to you, in your national 
capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more 
than any appellation derived from local discriminations. 
With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, 
manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a com- 
mon cause fought and triumphed together ; the Independ- 
ence and Liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels 
and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and suc- 
cesses. 

But these considerations, however powerfully they ad- 



8 WASHINGTON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

dress themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed 
by those, which apply more immediately to your interest. 
Here every portion of our country finds the most command- 
ing motives for carefully guarding and preserving the Union 
of the whole. 

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the 
South, protected by the equal laws of a common govern- 
ment, finds, in the productions of the latter, great additional 
resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious 
materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the 
same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, 
sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turn- 
ing partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, 
it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, while it 
contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the 
general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to 
the protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is un- 
equally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the 
West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of 
interior communications by land and water, will more and 
more find, a valuable vent for the commodities which it 
brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West 
derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and 
comfort, and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it 
must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable 
outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and 
the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the 
Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as 
one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold 
this essential advantage, whether derived from its own sepa- 



Washington's faeewell address. 9 

rate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection 
with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious. 

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an im- 
mediate and particular" interest in Union, all the parts com- 
bined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and 
efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably 
greater security from external danger, a less frequent inter- 
ruption of their peace by foreign nations ; and, what is of 
inestimable value, they must derive from Union an exemption 
from those broils and wars between themselves, which so 
frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by 
the same governments, which their ownrivalships alone would 
be sufficient to produ.ce> but which opposite foreign alliances, 
attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. 
Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those over- 
grown military establishments, which, under any form of 
government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be 
regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty. In 
this sense it is, that your Union ought to be considered as 
a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one 
ought to endear to you the preservation of the other. 

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every 
reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance 
of the Union as a primary object of Patriotic desire. Is 
there a doubt, whether a common government can embrace 
so large a sphere ? Let experience solve it. To listen to 
mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are 
authorized to hope, that a proper organization of the whole, 
with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective 
subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. 



10 WASHINGTON S EAEEWELL ADDEESS. 

It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such 
powerful and obvious motives to Union, affecting all parts 
of our country, while experience shall not have demon- 
strated its impracticability, there will always be reason to 
distrust the patriotism of those, who in any quarter may 
endeavor to weaken its bands. 

In contemplating the causes, which may disturb our 
Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any 
ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties 
by Geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, 
Atlantic and Western ; whence designing men may en- 
deavor to excite a belief, that there is a real difference of 
local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to 
acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepre- 
sent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot 
shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart- 
burnings, which spring from these misrepresentations • they 
tend to render alien to each other those, who ought to be 
bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of 
our western country have lately had a useful lesson on this 
head ; they have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, 
and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty 
with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event, 
throughout the United States, a decisive proof how un- 
founded were the suspicions propagated among them of a 
policy in the General Government and in the Atlantic States 
unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi ; 
they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, 
that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure 
to them every thing they could desire, in respect to our 



Washington's faeewell addeess. 11 

foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will 
it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these 
advantages on the Union by which they were procured ? 
Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such 
there are, who would sever them from their brethren, and 
connect them with aliens ? 

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a Gov- 
ernment for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, how- 
ever strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute ; 
they must inevitably experience the infractions and interrup- 
tions, which all alliances in all times have experienced. 
Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon 
your first essay, by the adoption of a Constitution of Gov- 
ernment better calculated than your former for an intimate 
Union, and for the efficacious management of your common 
concerns. This Government, the offspring of our own 
choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investi- 
gation and mature deliberation, completely free in its prin- 
ciples, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with 
energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own 
amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your 
support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, 
acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fun- 
damental maxims of true Liberty. The basis of our politi- 
cal systems is the right of the people to make and to 
alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitu- 
tion which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit 
and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obliga- 
tory upon all. The very idea of the power and the 
right of the people to establish Government presupposes 



12 Washington's fakewell addkess. 

the duty of every individual to obey the established Gov- 
ernment. 

All obstructions to the execution of the Laws, all com- 
binations and associations, under whatever plausible char- 
acter, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or 
awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted 
authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, 
and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to 
give it an artificial and extraordinary force'; to put, in the 
place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, 
often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the com- 
munity ; and, according to the alternate triumphs of differ- 
ent parties, to make the public administration the mirror of 
the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather 
than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested 
by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests. 

However combinations or associations of the above de- 
scription may now and then answer popular ends, they are 
likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent 
engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men 
will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to 
usurp for themselves the reins of government ; destroying 
afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust 
dominion. 

Towards the preservation of your government, and the 
permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not 
only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions 
to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with 
care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however 
specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to 



WASHINGTON'S FAKE WELL ADDRESS. 13 

effect, in the forms of the constitution, alterations, which 
will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine 
what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to 
which you may be invited, remember that time and habit 
are at least as necessary to fix the true character of govern- 
ments, as of other human institutions ; that experience is the 
surest standard, by which to test the real tendency of the 
existing constitution of a country ; that facility in changes, 
upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to 
perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and 
opinion ; and remember especially, that, for the efficient 
management of your common interests, in a country so 
extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is con- 
sistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. 
Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers 
properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, 
indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too 
feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine 
each member of the society within the limits prescribed by 
the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil 
enjoyment of the rights of person and property. 

I have already intimated to .you the danger of parties in 
the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on 
geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more com- 
prehensive view, and warn you, in the most solemn manner, 
against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally. 

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, 
having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. 
It' exists under different shapes in all governments, more or 
less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the 



P 



14 Washington's fake well address. 

popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is 
truly their worst enemy. 

The alternate domination of one faction over another, 
sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissen- 
sion, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated 
the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. 
But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent 
despotism. The disorders and miseries which result, grad-- 
ually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose 
in the absolute power of an individual ; and sooner or later 
the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more for- 
tunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the pur- 
poses of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, 
(which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) 
the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party 
are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise 
people to discourage and restrain it. 

It serves always to distract the public Councils, and en- 
feeble the public Administration. It agitates the commu- 
nity with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms ; kindles the 
animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally 
riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influ- 
ence and corruption/ which find a facilitated access to the 
government itself through the channels of party passions. 
Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected 
to the policy and will of another. 

There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are use- 
ful checks upon the administration of the Government, and 
serve to keep alive the spirit of Liberty. This within cer- 



Washington's faeewell addeess. 15 

tain limits is probably true ; and in Governments of a Mo- 
narchical cast, Patriotism may look with indulgence, if not 
with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the 
popular character, in Governments purely elective, it is a 
spirit not to be encouraged. Prom their 'natural tendency, 
it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for 
every salutary purpose. And, there being constant danger 
of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, 
to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it 
demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a 
flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume. 

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a 
free country should inspire caution in those intrusted with 
its administration to confine themselves within their respec- 
tive constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the 
powers of one department to encroach upon another. The 
spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of 
all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the 
form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of 
that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which pre- 
dominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of 
the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal 
checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and 
distributing it into different depositories, and constituting 
each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions by 
the others, lias been evinced by experiments ancient and 
modern ; some of them in our country, and under our own 
eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to insti- 
tute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution 
or modification of the constitutional powers be in any par- 



16 Washington's farewell address. 

ticular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment, in the 
way which the constitution designates. But let there be no 
change by usurpation ; for, though this, in one instance, may 
be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by 
which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must 
always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or 
transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield. 

Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political 
prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. 
In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who 
should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happi- 
ness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. 
The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to 
respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all 
their connections with private and public felicity. Let it 
simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for 
reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert 
the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in 
Courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the 
supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. 
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined edu- 
cation on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience 
both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail 
in exclusion of religious principle. 

It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary 
spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends, 
with more or less force, to every species of free government. 
Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference 
upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric ? 

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institu- 



WASHINGTON S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 17 

tions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion 
as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, 
it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. 

As a very important source of strength and security, 
cherish public credit. One method of preserving it, is to 
use it as sparingly as possible ; avoiding occasions of ex- 
pense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely 
disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much 
greater disbursements to repel it ■ avoiding likewise the 
accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of 
expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to dis- 
charge the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occa- 
sioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen 
which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these 
maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary 
that public opinion should cooperate. To facilitate to them 
the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should 
practically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts 
there must be Revenue ; that to have Revenue there must 
be taxes ; that no taxes can be devised, which are not more 
or less inconvenient and unpleasant ; that the intrinsic em- 
barrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper 
objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be 
a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct 
of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquies- 
cence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the pub- 
lic exigencies may at any time dictate. 

Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations ; cul- 
tivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and Morality 
enjoin this conduct ; and can it be, that good policy does 
2 



18 Washington's faeewell addeess. 

not equally enjoin it ? It will be worthy of a free, enlight- 
ened, and, at no distant period, a great Nation, to give to 
mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a peo- 
ple always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. 
Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the 
fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary ad- 
vantages, which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? 
Can it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent 
felicity of a Nation with its Virtue ? The experiment, at 
least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles 
human nature. Alas ! is it rendered impossible by its vices ? 
In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential 
than that permanent inveterate antipathies against particular 
Nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be 
excluded ; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feel- 
ings towards all -should be cultivated. The Nation, which 
indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual 
fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its ani- 
mosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead 
|t astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one 
nation against another disposes each more readily to offer 
insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, 
jand to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling 
occasions of dispute occur. Hence frequent collisions, ob- 
stinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The Nation, 
prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to 
war the Government, contrary to the best calculations of 
policy. The Government sometimes participates in the 
national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason 
would reject > at other times, it makes the animosity of the 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDEE3S. 19 

nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, 
ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The 
peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of Nations has 
been the victim. 

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one Nation for 
another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favor- 
ite Nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common 
interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and 
infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former 
into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, 
without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also 
to concessions to the favorite Nation of privileges denied to 
others, which is apt doubly to injure the Nation making the 
concessions ; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to 
have been retained ; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a 
disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal priv- 
ileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, 
or deluded citizens, (who devote themselves to the favorite 
nation,) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their 
own country, without odium, sometimes even with popular- 
ity ; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of 
obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or 
a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compli- 
ances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, 
such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly en- 
lightened and independent Patriot. How many opportuni- 
ties do they afford to tamper wdth domestic factions, to 
practise the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to 
influence or awe the Public Councils ! Such an attachment 



20 Washington's farewell address. 

of a small or weak, towards a great and powerful nation, 
dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. 

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I con- 
jure you to believe me, fellow-citizens), the jealousy of a free 
people ou^ht to be constantly awake ; since history and ex- 
perience prove, that foreign influence is one of the most 
baneful foes of Republican Government. But that jealousy, 
to be useful, must be impartial ; else it becomes the instru- 
ment of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a de- 
fence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, 
and excessive dislike of another, cause those whom they ac- 
tuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and 
even second the arts of influence on the other. Real pa- 
triots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable 
to become suspected and odious ; while its tools and dupes 
usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surren- 
der their interests. 

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign 
nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have 
with them as little political connection as possible. So far 
as we have already formed engagements, let them be ful- 
filled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have 
none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be en- 
gaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are 
essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it 
must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, 
in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary 
combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables 



WASHINGTON^ FAEEWELL ADDRESS. 21 

us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, 
under an efficient government, the period is not far off, when 
we may defy material injury from external annoyance ; when 
we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality, 
we may at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously re- 
spected ; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility 
of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the 
giving us provocation ; when we may choose peace or war, 
as our interests, guided by justice, shall counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation ? 
Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground ? Why, 
by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Eu- 
rope, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of Eu- 
ropean ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice ? 

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alli- 
ances with any portion of the foreign world ; so far, I 
mean, as we are now at liberty to do it ; for let me not 
be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to exist- 
ing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to 
public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the 
best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements 
be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, 
it is unnecessary, and would be unwise to extend them. 

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable estab- 
lishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely 
trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. 

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recom- 
mended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our 
commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; 
neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences ; 



22 Washington's eabewell address. 

consulting the natural course of things ; diffusing and diversi- 
fying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing 
nothing ; establishing, with powers so disposed, in order to 
give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our mer- 
chants, and to enable the government to support them, con- 
ventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circum- 
stances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and 
liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as expe- 
rience and circumstances shall dictate ; constantly keeping 
in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested 
favors from another ; that it must pay with a portion of its 
independence for whatever it may accept under that char- 
acter ; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the 
condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and 
yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. 
There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon 
real favors. from nation to nation. It is an illusion which 
experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. 
In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an 
old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make 
the strong and lasting impression I could wish ; that they 
will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our 
nation from running the course, which has hitherto marked 
the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself, 
that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some 
occasional good ; that they may now and then recur to mod- 
erate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs 
of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pre- 
tended patriotism ; this hope will be a full recompense for the 
solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated. 



23 

How far, in the discharge of my official duties, I have 
been guided by the principles which have been delineated, 
the public records and other evidences of my conduct must 
witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance 
of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed my- 
self to be guided by them. 

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my 
Proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the index to my 
Plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that 
of your Representatives in both Houses of Congress, the 
spirit of that measure has continually governed me, unin- 
fluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it. 

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best 
lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, 
under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, 
and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral po- 
sition. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should 
depend upon me, to maintain it with moderation, persever- 
ance, and firmness. 

The considerations, which respect the right to hold this 
conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I 
will only observe, that, according to my understanding of 
the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of 
the Belligerent Powers, has been virtually admitted by all. 

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, 
without any thing more, from, the obligation which justice 
and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it 
is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and 
amity towards other nations. 

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct 



24 Washington's faeewell addeess. 

will best, be referred to your reflections and experience. 
With me, a predominant motive has been to endeavor to 
gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent 
institutions, and to progress without interruption to that 
degree of strength and consistency, which is necessary to 
give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes. 

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, 
I am unconscious of intentiona error, I am nevertheless too 
sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may 
have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I 
fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the 
evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me 
the hope, that my Country will never cease to view them 
with indulgence ; and that, after forty-five years of my life 
dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of 
incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as my- 
self must soon be to the mansions of rest. 

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and 
actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural 
to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his 
progenitors for several generations ; I anticipate with pleas- 
ing expectation that retreat, in which I promise myself to 
realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in 
the midst of my fellow -citizens, the benign influence of 
good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object 
of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mu- 
tual cares, labors, and dangers. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
United States, September 11th, 1796. 



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